Search resumes today for missing diver: Man had one hour of air left in tank when he went to check lobster traps

By Jim Haddadinjhaddadin@fosters.com

fosters.com

By Jim Haddadinjhaddadin@fosters.com

Posted Jul. 20, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Jim Haddadinjhaddadin@fosters.com

Posted Jul. 20, 2013 at 3:15 AM

PORTSMOUTH — A search is set to resume this morning for the body of a 69-year-old local man who failed to resurface after he went diving Friday morning near the Sarah Long Bridge.

Portsmouth Fire Department Chief Steve Achilles said the man was checking a line of lobster traps when he went missing. His identity was being withheld Friday evening to allow family members to be notified of his death.

Achilles said the diver submerged from a 17-foot boat, carrying an air supply that would have lasted about an hour. A friend or family member remained in the boat while he was underwater, Achilles said.

New Hampshire Marine Patrol then received a call for help around 10:45 a.m. — more than an hour later — when the man failed to reappear. A search commenced about 70 yards downstream of the Sarah Long Bridge, and rescue personnel from the Portsmouth Fire Department waited on alert for more than an hour to render medical aid, but by 1 p.m., the operation had converted into a recovery effort.

Boats from the fire department, U.S. Coast Guard, state Fish and Game Department and New Hampshire Marine Patrol were dispatched to the area at various times during the search. Dive operations and side scan sonar searches were expected to resume this morning.

Achilles said the deceased diver is a man who lived in the area, but no further information was available Friday. The man was checking a trawl line Friday morning.

“I don’t know if he was doing repairs or just checking his traps,” he said. “That will be something that, an interview will have to be done.”